ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Every woman who is experiencing infertility has been told at some point to “just relax,” “go on vacation,” “quit your job,” “stop trying so hard,” or the old favorite, “just adopt and then it will happen.” The assumption behind all of these comments is that the woman’s stress level is in some way preventing conception. But is that true? Are infertile women more stressed than fertile women? And if so, does their stress level preclude pregnancy? Can it truly prevent infertile women from benefiting from the advances in reproductive technologies? And will relaxing indeed lead to conception? These are the questions which are answered in the following pages.
